After an introductory list of 50 species, seeds of which Nicolaus Joseph von Jacquin had sent to Linnaeus, Jacquin explains that he did not want to risk the seeds sent to Linnaeus by sending them during the coldest part of the year. So he must send what he had managed to collect so far, and would send the rest next year. – Linnaeus should tell him if he had made mistakes in the determination of some plant.
Jacquin comments at some length some plants and asks Linnaeus to be patient with his questions: Jacquin had nobody to ask, the professor in botany in Vienna was of no use and had never learnt botany properly, so Jacquin and Franz von Mygind were now his teachers. The garden was laid out by him after Gerhard van Swieten’s design, but he had lost interest in that too.
A long and detailed description of Ayemia is given, with a question if it is a new species or not. The letter concludes with detailed descriptions of three trees from the West Indies, which Jacquin had omitted from his publication (Jacquin refers to Enumeratio systematica plantarum). Jacquin asks for Linnaeus’ opinion on their identity and attribution.